That the spirit of adventure was strong within him, is shown by his
daring to go up to London, and disguising himself as a mountebank. He
had a coat made, called a 'Jack Pudding Coat:' a little hat was stuck on
his head, with a fox's tail in it, and cocks' feathers here and there. A
wizard's mask one day, a daubing of flour another, completed the
disguise it was then so usual to assume: witness the long traffic held
at Exeter Change by the Duchess of Tyrconnel, Francis Jennings, in a
white mask, selling laces, and French gew-gaws, a trader to all
appearance, but really carrying on political intrigues; every one went
to chat with the 'White Milliner,' as she was called, during the reign
of William and Mary. The Duke next erected a stage at Charing Cross--in
the very face of the stern Rumpers, who, with long faces, rode past the
sinful man each day as they came ambling up from the Parliament House. A
band of puppet-players and violins set up their shows; and music covers
a multitude of incongruities. The ballad was then the great vehicle of
personal attack, and Villiers's dawning taste for poetry was shown in
the ditties which he now composed, and in which he sometimes assisted
vocally.
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